An Italian judge yesterday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians for what will be the first criminal trial over the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.
The judge set a trial date for June 8. Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the Americans -- almost all CIA agents -- to abduct terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003.
The CIA has refused to comment on the case.
Among those indicted by Milan Judge Caterina Interlandi was the former Italian chief of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, and his former deputy Marco Mancini.
Pollari, the only defendant who appeared during the preliminary hearing, has insisted that Italian intelligence played no role in the alleged abduction, and told the judge he was unable to defend himself properly because documents clarifying his position had been excluded from the proceedings because they contain state secrets.
Nasr was allegedly transferred by vehicle to the Aviano Air Force base near Venice, then by air to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and then on to Egypt, where critics say he was tortured.
All but one of the American suspects have been identified as CIA agents, including the former station chiefs in Rome and Milan. The other is a US Air Force officer stationed at the time at Aviano.
The case has put an uncomfortable spotlight on intelligence operations, as prosecutors press the Italian government to seek the extradition of the US agents. The previous government of Silvio Berlusconi refused, and Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government has yet to make its decision.
Even if a request is made for the Americans' extradition, it was unlikely that the CIA agents would be turned over for trial abroad.
In Italy, defendants can be tried in absentia.
All of the US agents have court-appointed lawyers, who have acknowledged having no contact with their clients.
Alessia Sorgato, a lawyer who represents three of the Americans, said she has not been able to talk to her clients.
Sorgato and fellow lawyer Guido Meroni, who represents six Americans, have argued that the evidence connecting their clients to Nasr's disappearance was circumstantial, based on phone records and their presence in locations in Italy during the period before the abduction.
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